‘We eat horror’: Acclaimed Tasmanian author takes aim at Tasmania’s salmon industry

Acclaimed Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan has taken a massive swipe at a major Tasmanian export industry, which he describes as “an elaborate and highly successful con job”. THE INDUSTRY RESPONDS >>

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MAN-BOOKER prize-winning author Richard Flanagan has taken aim at “Big Salmon”, accusing the Tasmanian aquaculture industry of devastating the environment amid weak government regulation.

Entitled Toxic: the Rotting Underbelly of the Tasmanian Salmon Industry, the book coincides with the launch of a fresh protest campaign.

The acclaimed author’s ninth non-fiction book is billed by its publisher as “a chilling expose of the salmon industry”.

“Flanagan tears open an industry that is as secretive as its practices are destructive and its product disturbing,” publicity material says.

The cover of Richard Flanagan’s

The Atlantic salmon industry is one of the state’s major exporters, with an annual output valued at more than $500m and is a major regional employer.

Flanagan said he was driven to write the book after the noise of nearby aquaculture operations prevented him from being able to write in his Bruny Island shack and meant he stopped inviting friends to stay.

He said the industry was nothing like its marketing spiel of being healthy, clean, green and wild but rather the author of environmental destruction and cruelty to native sea life, the beneficiary of weak regulation and political influence, and a bully to opponents and dissenters.

The book describes the industry as “an elaborate and highly successful con job” and claims it is responsible for “the slow poisoning of Hobart’s drinking water”, the degradation of Macquarie Harbour and the D’Entrecasteaux Channel, and “swilling sludge into Storm Bay”.

Flanagan describes fish being grown “packed into swirling vortexes of filth”.

“What are we eating when we eat Tasmanian salmon?”

“For we eat horror: factory-farmed chicken heads and guts and claws and feathers as well as petrochemical dyes, possible carcinogens and antibiotic residue. We dine on destruction: idyllic worlds reduced to industrial complexes that toil to the thud of dirty diesel day and night, keeping millions of tortured fish alive with chemicals and dubious feed products.

“We sup on people’s lives destroyed by noise and official contempt.

“And we are eating the silencing by anonymous threats, payoffs and the use of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements of anyone with an opinion contrary to that of the salmon industry.

“We are dining off metre-high piles of fish faeces.”

Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan has taken a massive swipe at the state’s salmon industry in his latest book. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

The Tasmanian Salmonid Growers Association said the industry was considering the contents of the book, which hit Hobart book stores on Wednesday.

“Richard Flanagan is primarily celebrated for his works of fiction,” a spokeswoman said.  

“Tasmanian salmon is a global leader, independently accredited by organisations like the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Best Aquaculture Practices and the RSPCA.

“The TSGA welcomes robust discussion — our industry is always striving to do better for the environment and our communities, and feedback is an important part of that — but the debate must take in all sides and consider science-based evidence.”

Comment was sought from the state government.

Greens environment spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff welcomed the addition to the debate.

“Flanagan’s book is the tip of a giant iceberg of outrage and defiance at the arrogance of Tasmania’s salmon industry, helped by Liberal and Labor to run roughshod over public marine waterways,” she said.

“Egged on by the major parties, and despite the devastation in Macquarie Harbour, there is no marine life, animal welfare, boating safety or coastal community cost to stop intensive salmon farming operating wherever and however it wants.

“The toxic regulation of salmon farming in Tasmania has critically threatened marine ecosystems, and the only enduring pathway for salmon workers is to move the industry onto land and under planning law.”

Greens environment spokeswoman Rosalie Woodruff.

The Tasmanian Alliance for Marine Protection will on Thursday hold a press conference over the governance of the industry with independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie and actor Essie Davis as well as representatives of environment and fishing groups.

Independent candidate for the seat of Braddon and fisherman Craig Garland has welcomed the publication of the book.

He is also holding a press conference in Hobart on Thursday ahead of a rally by the Circular Head Coastal Awareness Network.

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